This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Sign up here.

From Lisbon to Tallinn, Europeans have taken to the streets to protest against sky-high housing costs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has apparently heard them.

In her address to the European Parliament on Thursday ahead of her reelection, von der Leyen said housing would be a priority issue for the next Commission. Among other measures, she vowed to appoint the EU's first-ever commissioner for housing and present a plan to boost public and private investment in homebuilding across the bloc.

In her speech, von der Leyen acknowledged that housing had not "typically" been seen as Brussels' problem. The EU treaties don't mention the topic, and member countries have not given the Commission the power to intervene directly in the sector. But housing associations and local authorities have long argued that the institutions can still play a role in addressing the issue, and on Thursday the president agreed.

"Prices and rents are soaring ... People are struggling to find affordable homes," she said. "I want this Commission to support people where it matters most, and if it matters to Europeans, it matters to Europe."

In addition to creating a dedicated housing commissioner — a portfolio likely to be sought by a candidate backed by the Socialists, who made housing a key issue in their European election manifesto this year — von der Leyen proposed revising state aid rules to make it easier for member countries to build homes.

At present, EU members can use public funds to build affordable housing for people who cannot buy at the market price. But a growing number of national governments argue the crisis is now affecting middle-income households, and say guidelines need to be changed so that the cash can be used to build homes for a larger swathe of society. Von der Leyen's policy program, which was shared with lawmakers on Thursday, suggests her next Commission will back that proposal.

The policy program also suggests doubling the bloc's so-called cohesion funding earmarked for new affordable housing, and for the European Investment Bank to launch a pan-European investment platform to channel more public and private investment into affordable and sustainable housing schemes.

Von der Leyen's housing plans for the next term lean on several big-name measures created during her first administration. In her policy program, she argues the "swift and effective roll-out" of the Social Climate Fund — an €86.7 billion scheme to help governments soften the blow of higher prices for vulnerable consumers — will be key to renovating homes and accessing affordable, energy-efficient housing.

She also calls for the continuation and expansion of her signature New European Bauhaus program, which aims to marry innovative, climate-conscious development with aesthetic design.

Housing is one of the few topics von der Leyen can tackle with broad support from across the political spectrum. The Left and the Socialists campaigned on the issue in the lead-up to June's EU election and the Netherlands' new far-right government has made homebuilding one of its priority issues.

Two lawmakers told POLITICO that the Parliament was also keen to work on the issue, so much so that a new committee to address housing may be created in September.

Max Griera contributed reporting.

This article has been updated.